


Bright

by poetroe



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bisexual Erin Gilbert, Closets, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Spin the Bottle, Summer, Summer Vacation, Teen Romance, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-22 16:16:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16601318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poetroe/pseuds/poetroe
Summary: Erin works at her uncle's fishing shop every summer. Things change when a girl with wild hair, wild eyes and a pair of steampunk goggles visits the lake.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Since my previous holtzbert fic got so many nice comments (thank u guys <3) and I love these two dorks I felt like writing a second fic!! This is going to be a two-parter, and I just want to say right now that I know nothing about fishing or about this lake (which really exists, thanks wikipedia). Hope you guys like this first part, I hope to have the second one done soon !!

Erin Gilbert is sixteen years old and, like the previous two years, is spending the summer with her aunt and uncle in Lake Waccamaw, a sleepy town on the shore of a lake with the same name. Her uncle runs a fishing shop, which is where Erin works three days a week, with the weekends off. The shop could better be called a fishing shack, with its walls made of wood boards and its drafty Dutch door.

 _Still. It’s not that bad_ , Erin thinks as she observes the shop. The looks of it could be considered quaint for sure, but with her uncle’s amazing number of rods, reels, lines, hooks, sinkers and other types of fishing gear hanging around, the shop is still a popular site for the handful of fishermen Lake Waccamaw attracts every summer. The pay is not bad either, and this way Erin gets to enjoy her summer vacation way more than in sweltering New York City, with her parents.

Fishing season has already begun, but business is still a little slow on account of the summer holidays having only just begun. Usually, the fishers that frequent the shop are far from mediocre types, but the two figures that enter the shop on one cool morning would make every last one of them look like average citizens. Erin is slouching on the counter as the door swings open, and two women enter. The one in the front is tall, a little intimidating, and strangely reminds Erin of Sigourney Weaver. The second one looks to be more her own age, with wild blonde hair and a pair of steampunk goggles being the most striking features about her. Erin immediately stands up a little straighter; no matter how unusual these visitors are, they’re still customers.

“Um, can I help you find anything?” she asks as the girl with goggles approaches the counter.

“Looks like I’ve already found what I’ve been looking for,” she answers with a wide smirk. The other woman says nothing, and starts going over the different kinds of bait the shop has in stock.

“Okay?” Erin answers, a little bewildered. The girl just pulls the goggles off her head, pushes them in the front pocket of her dungarees and starts leaning on the counter with both elbows.

“So, you come here often?” the girl continues, still smirking and leaning into Erin’s space.

“Yes. Because I work here,” Erin answers hesitantly, while subtly leaning a bit backwards. “But I’ve never seen you around here before. Is this your first time visiting Lake Waccamaw?”

“Yeah. It’s a cool place,” the girl answers. “The lake’s prehistoric, with several animal species that are found nowhere else on earth: the Waccamaw darter, silverside, killifish, not to mention a bunch of native species of mussels, clams and snails, like the Waccamaw spike and fatmucket, and of course there are _alligators_ , as well—” She pauses in her energetic rambling and focuses her attention on Erin again. “But I bet you know all about that.”

“Not really, actually,” Erin answers, laughing shortly. “I’m only here during the summer. The rest of the year, I live in New York City.” The girl’s blue eyes widen immediately.

“Oh, no way, me too! I mean—I’m usually in New York during the summers, as well. But then I met Doctor Gorin there—” She points at the other woman, who has moved on from the bait to carefully observing the different lifejackets the shop has to offer. “—who offered me a summer of studying all those endemic animals I mentioned earlier, and of course I couldn’t refuse.” The girl surprises her then by offering Erin her hand. “Since we’ll probably be seeing each other around, I’m Jillian,” she says. Erin, famed at home for her difficulty in making friends, hesitates for a second, and then grabs Jillian’s hand.

“I’m Erin,” Erin says with a smile, squeezing a little before letting go. “It’s nice to meet you, Jillian.” Jillian frowns.

“Actually, all my friends just call me Holtz, or Holtzmann,” she answers. “That’s my last name. It sounds better, I think.”

“I don’t know,” Erin says, leaning forward on the counter for the first time since Jillian and Doctor Gorin entered, effectively moving into Jillian’s personal space. “I think Jillian sounds nice. But I could call you Jill?”

“You know what, you can choose, Erin,” Jillian says, the smirk returning to her face. Erin suddenly feels a little flustered, but then Doctor Gorin approaches the counter and she has no time to think about what that means.

“What kind of fishing line would you recommend for catching a killifish?,” she asks, direct and with the intonation of a woman with an extraordinary amount of passion. Then, directed at Jillian: “We’re going to study its remarkable resistance against a variety of different toxins.”

“I’m not sure,” Erin answers, “but considering how small killifish are, I would say a trap works better. I could get you a couple of different ones from the back, so you can choose?” Doctor Gorin nods approvingly, and Erin hurries to gather traps from the storage area in the back. Before she knows it, the woman has chosen and paid for a trap, and she and Jillian leave the shop about as quickly as they entered it.

The next time Erin sees Jillian, a year has passed.

Erin doesn’t even think it’s her, at first; the Dunkin Donuts in Whiteville, the largest town in the vicinity of Lake Waccamaw, is a popular spot in the area; she sees different people there every time she visits. But the steampunk goggles with the yellow glasses are unmistakable.

“Jillian!” Erin calls as she walks over to the booth, “Holtz, is that you?” The girl in question turns around with a smile, and Erin has her answer.

“Hey, Erin from the fishing store,” she says. “Long time no see!”

“Yeah, how come?” Erin answers. “I thought you said we’d be seeing each other around, at the lake, last summer.” She doesn’t let it show on her face, but the feeling of hurt Erin had felt ever since it had become clear that Jillian wasn’t going to come by, slowly starts growing again. Back then she’d even started hiking around Lake Waccamaw, in a futile attempt to run into the other girl. They had never made any promises to each other or anything like that, but it had still felt like one had been broken. Jillian’s smile dims slightly.

“I did,” she says, “and I thought we would. But something came up for Doctor Gorin, and she had to go to someplace in Utah immediately. And I had the choice to go with her, or go home.”

“Oh,” Erin answers. The affirmation that it was nothing _she_ had done is like a weight, silently falling off of her shoulders. “And now you’re back.” Jillian grins at her from across the table.

“Yep. Back and ready to study the fascinating little creatures that make up Lake Waccamaw’s wildlife. And the chemicals in the water, of course.” She takes a gulp of the black coffee in front of her, and grimaces.

“And are you doing that together with Doctor Gorin, or…” Erin trails off. This might be considered prying, but if Jillian could be whisked away out of the blue like last year, her _friend_ Erin deserved to know.

“No, I’m flying solo this time,” Jillian says, before standing up. “So, are you doing anything today? I wanted to collect some sedentary samples on the beach.” Erin looks at Jillian, then down at the mug.

“Don’t you want to finish that?” she says as she slides out of the booth, but Jillian is already walking to the parking lot.

“Better not to,” she says as soon as Erin’s caught up, putting her goggles on in one swift movement. Then Erin notices the car they’ve been walking to; a sturdy, dark brown dune buggy. “Too much coffee turns me a little weird.” Jillian turns around, in the middle of pulling on a pair of fingerless, red leather gloves, and looks at Erin. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“ _That’s_ your car?” Erin asks hesitantly. Jillian smirks.

“No, silly. It’s my trusted buggy. Come on, hop in!” she says excitedly as she jumps in, starts the engine and starts revving it.

“You know what? I’ll meet you there,” Erin says weakly, waving at the other girl with an awkward little hand gesture. _Somehow she’s even more intense than I remembered_ , Erin thinks as she walks to her own car.

That one afternoon spent at the beach turns into a weekly get-together at the beach, which turns into semi-daily hangouts at whatever place Jillian wants to go, to study whatever Jillian wants to study. The rest of Erin’s days are spent at the shop, and they seem particularly boring when contrasted with the adventures that always seem to happen with Jillian around. Even when they’re not doing anything spectacular; throughout it all, there are Jillian’s bright smiles, bright eyes, sunburnt nose and windswept hair, catching Erin’s attention and holding it for so long that she starts to forget about everything else.

Jillian and Erin are in the lake, but only just. This is the shallow, sandy side, where the water only comes up to their ankles, and where they have the biggest chance of seeing the Waccamaw darter.

“Keep away from the bigger rocks around here,” Jillian says. She’s sitting cross-legged in the water, thoroughly drenching her jean shorts, eyes trained on the sandy bottom of the lake and the creatures that dart in and from under the sand. Erin snorts.

“Why, do they bite?” Jillian looks at her over her shoulder with a grin.

“Good thinking, but no,” she says. “The darters lay their eggs beneath them. And the male fish are like penguins.” At Erin’s questioning look, Jillian’s smirk widens. “In the way that they’re overly protective of their eggs, I mean.”

“Aha,” Erin responds. She’s wearing a bikini with a loose shirt over it, the edges of which touch the water when she crouches down next to Jillian. “You see anything yet?”

“Apart from a few loose tadpoles, nothing yet,” she answers as she digs her fists into the white sand. Then Jillian looks at Erin again, grinning and winking at her in a way that’s the opposite of subtle. “Oh, and there’s one stunning specimen of human splashing around here somewhere.” Erin rolls her eyes with a smile and halfheartedly slaps the other girl’s shoulder.

“Stop it, Jill.” Erin has become used to the constant stream of flirtatious comments Jillian flings her way on a daily basis. _It’s just her way of joking around, right,_ she thinks. Then Jillian suddenly has a huge crab in her hands, and she’s holding it really close to her face, and— “Should you be touching that with your bare hands?”

The summer flies by, quicker than all the previous years Erin spent at Lake Waccamaw, and before she knows it Jillian is leaving for New York; with Erin following just a couple of days later. _Why didn’t I get her number?_ Erin thinks as she’s driving back home. It had never come up, with the two of them being in the vicinity of the lake every day. Erin hadn’t needed it then. But she kind of needs it now.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said this was going to be two parts, but this second piece got kinda out of hand so guess what!! I'm leaving the aftermath of everything that happens here for a last, third chapter. Hope you guys enjoy!

Erin has just turned eighteen, and finds herself back at Lake Waccamaw for the summer. It’s probably her last year here, with college and her adult future just around the corner. _I might even miss this place_ , Erin thinks as she looks around the shop. In all the years she’s come here to help out, the shop never really changed. Like the lake, it would probably be around for years to come, unchanged.

Erin doesn’t know yet if Jillian will be here, too, this year. It kind of feels like she should be expecting it, with the lake being the place they’d been running into each other for the last two years. But, since not knowing anything for sure is giving her a bit of a stomachache, Erin focuses on her job, and not the could-have-beens.

At least, not until Jillian flies through the door one morning, rushing into the shop and sweeping Erin into a hug.

“Er-berry!” she exclaims excitedly. “How’ve you been?”

“Good,” Erin replies as she curls her arms around Jillian’s shoulders. “I missed you.” When Jillian pulls back, she’s looking at Erin with a small, but sincere smile.

“Me too,” she answers.

After that, they fall back into the rhythm they’d perfected the year before. Together, they walk around the lake in the sun, go swimming, try to climb the trees of the forest, make small fires on the beach when the sun sets. All in all, it’s pretty much perfect.

“So, who’s this mystery girl who’s been taking up all of your free time?” Abby says accusingly. Erin rolls her eyes at her cousin and continues refilling the containers with bait. She loves Abby, but more often than not she sees _things_ in places where nothing exists.

“She’s just a friend,” she answers, not taking her eyes off the task at hand.

“Yeah right,” Abby answers. “And I’m just a relation by blood. Don’t fuck with me, Erin Gilbert.”

“What? I’m serious,” Erin replies, feeling annoyed. “Besides, I don’t know if I’m into girls like that.” Abby straight up starts laughing at that, and Erin has half a mind to punch her on the nose. “Look, just because you’re family doesn’t mean I won’t hit you.”

“You’re welcome to try,” Abby says with a grin. “I’d kick your butt anytime, sunshine.” Erin rolls her eyes for the second time and grabs the broom. Anything to distract her from the menace that’s her beloved cousin Abby. Then the door to the shop opens and Jillian strolls in, and Erin can’t help but think that Jill is the perfect distraction.

“Hey, Erin,” she says, as she jumps up on the counter and starts swinging her legs. “When do you get off work, I’m bored.” Erin checks her watch.

“Not for a couple hours, Jill.” She looks up and sees Jillian’s irresistible puppy pout, the one she also uses to goad Erin into buying her chocolate chip ice-cream. Erin’s features soften. “But I could ask my uncle to let me off early?” Abby, who’s been watching their exchange with curious eyes, decides to step in.

“I could cover for you,” Abby starts, wearing a sweet smile that Erin doesn’t trust at all. “As long as you guys come along to Patty’s birthday bash. She’s turning eighteen and her parents are out of town, so.” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively and when Erin turns to Jillian, she sees the girl almost bouncing off the counter with excitement.

“Hell yes! I love parties. Come on Erin, let’s get out of here,” Jillian says as she jumps off the counter, snatches the broom out of Erin’s hand before replacing it with her own, and dragging her outside after passing the broom over to Abby. Erin is still not quite sure what just happened, but Abby is smiling as she watches them leave, so it can’t be very good.

Erin loves Jillian. She loves hanging out together; she loves Jillian’s enthusiasm about, well, everything; she loves how she laughs more in Jill’s presence than with anyone else. So why is the party making her so nervous? _Maybe it’s because there will be other people there_ , Erin thinks. _What if she thinks they’re more interesting than me. What if—_ Her thoughts get harshly interrupted by Jillian, who knocks on her door in rapid succession before entering.

“Hey,” she says, a little out of breath from the stairs, “your aunt let me in.” Erin smiles. Jillian is wearing the same dungarees she had the day they met, but with a wildly patterned pink and purple blouse underneath it. She’s also wearing a crazy amount of necklaces, bracelets and rings, that softly chime and jingle as they fall against each other.

“Hey,” Erin replies. “You look really good.” Jillian grins widely at the compliment, then twirls around a couple of times.

“Don’t I just? God, I love parties. Can’t wait to get all crazy.” She does the eyebrow thing Abby had been doing that afternoon and Erin snorts.

“Right, right. Come here and help me pick something to wear, then we can go and…” Erin brings up her hand for the air quotes. “’Get crazy’.”

Jillian picks out the craziest outfits for her, ones that Erin doesn’t even remember buying, but eventually she settles on a pair of black jeans with pastel purple blouse over it. “And?” Erin asks as she buttons up her blouse. Jillian looks her up and down approvingly.

“You look smokin’, hot stuff,” she says as she pats Erin on the shoulders. “And now we kind of match!” Erin grins, and locks her arm with Jillian’s as they make their way outside.

The party is already going on in full swing when they get there. Erin can’t say she’s surprised. From everything Abby has told her over the years, Patty has always been one for crazy, over-the-top parties.

“I have a feeling me and this Patty are going to hit it off,” Jillian says with a smile as she takes in the amount of people smoking outside, the colored lights coming from inside the house and the booming of the bass, that despite the closed door manages to seep out. Erin doesn’t answer, but just nods. Jillian, so excited just a minute ago, frowns and turns to her friend. “Hey, what’s up, Er-bear? You feeling alright?” Erin nods again.

“Yeah— yes. I’ll be fine. Just not used to this much people, is all,” she says. Jillian shoots her a reassuring smile and grabs her hand.

“That’s okay,” she says, squeezing it softly. “I’ll be with you the entire time. And who knows, maybe you’ll end up getting a hot date out of all of this.” Jillian wiggles her eyebrows again, and Erin can’t help the smile it causes. “Ah, the famous Erin Gilbert prize-winning smile,” Jillian says with a grin of her own, as they start walking towards the house. “I was beginning to wonder where it went.”

The party is not so bad. Abby has informed them that they can crash, so neither of them has to worry about staying sober in order to drive back. Jillian seems totally in her element in this crowd of crazy teenagers, and has been mixing drinks for Erin all night. Right now, she’s sipping a concoction that must have crazy amounts of alcohol in it, but Erin doesn’t taste it at all. Jill winks at her as she sips her own, and then Patty comes over to where they’re standing and yells something into Jillian’s ear. The music is still as loud as it was when they came in, so Erin has no clue what’s been said when Jillian suddenly grabs her hand and drags her to another room, upstairs.

“What are we doing?” she asks as they enter and Jillian closes the door behind them. The music further away now, and Erin notices a handful of boys and girls, already sitting in a circle.

“Spin the bottle, bitches!” Patty yells excitedly.

“Yeah,” Jillian says as she looks at Erin. “You wanna play?” Erin glances over to the other people in the room. They’re not particularly bad-looking, so she shrugs.

“Sure.” Jill grins and pulls her down to in a spot between two guys. Erin can’t help but think that, _damn, the one sitting next to Jill is seriously handsome._ Then Patty places an empty wine bottle in the middle of their crooked little circle, and the game is afoot.

Erin and Jillian are spared in the first few rounds, but then Patty spins the bottle for a second time and the neck slides just past the handsome guy, and lands on Jillian.

“Aw hell yes, Holtzy!” Patty says giddily. “Come over here, girl.” The two seem to start grinning simultaneously, and Jillian is already leaning forward as Patty crawls over and presses a chaste kiss to her lips. Erin can feel her cheeks heat up, and her stomach as it starts twisting itself into strange knots. Maybe she’s had a bit too much to drink. Then it’s Jillian’s turn; she lands on a boy, and as she kisses him Erin can feel her stomachache get a little worse. She’s about to excuse herself when the attractive guy, _Kevin_ , spins the bottle. It twirls for a while until coming to a slow stop. Right in front of Erin.

“Ooh, go get it Gilbert!” Patty yells enthusiastically as a few of the other girls around the circle start whooping along. Erin feels her blush deepen as Kevin smiles at her, then softly presses his lips against hers. It’s over before it’s even begun, and then it’s Erin’s turn to spin. She grabs the bottle tightly, and gives it an extra hard twirl when she lets go. The spinning of the bottle makes Erin a little dizzy, which might be why she doesn’t hear the sirens outside until everyone is standing up and racing downstairs.

“What’s going on?” Erin asks as Jillian, who is already standing, helps her to her feet.

“The cops. They’re shutting down my party!” Patty yells in disbelief as she runs out as well.

“So,” Jillian says, still holding Erin’s hand. “Do you want to run, or hide?” Erin considers both options as she looks around the room. There aren’t all that many places, but…

“Hide,” she says, pulling Jillian over to a tall closet in the corner of the room. Erin opens the doors, pulls some clothes off the racks and puts them over the shoes that line the bottom of the closet, so they have a place to sit. Carefully, the two girls step inside and Jillian closes the door. It’s pitch black, apart from the tiny sliver of light that falls through the small opening between the closed doors.

“Well, who knew I’d find myself back here,” Jillian whispers. Erin can’t see her face, but she hears Jillian’s grin through her words.

“What,” she replies, “have you been in this closet before?”

“Not this closet, silly,” Jillian answers. “ _The_ closet.” That makes Erin blush properly. _Good thing it’s so dark in here_ , she thinks.

“Well, this one is bound to be easier to get out of,” Erin says, only for the sake of just saying something, and she hears how stupid that sounds as soon as the words leave her mouth. But Jillian just starts chuckling, and then they’re both laughing out loud, before quickly shushing each other when gruff policeman-sounding voices start coming from downstairs.

“So,” Jillian whispers after they’ve been quiet for a while, “did you even see who it landed on? When you spun the bottle last.” Erin shakes her head, before remembering the darkness.

“Uh, no. Who was it?” Jillian says nothing, but grabs both of her hands, and Erin has a feeling she already knows the answer. The knots in her stomach transform into something that feels a lot like butterflies as Jillian starts leaning in closer and closer.

“It was me,” she whispers. Their faces are so close now that Erin can feel Jill’s breath blow softly against her face.

“Oh,” Erin says, because she can’t think of any words to answer with. She only knows what she can do. What she _wants_ to do. And that is leaning forward, meeting Jillian’s lips with her own. It’s too dark to see, so her mouth lands on Jillian’s cheek, but then her hand shoots up on its own accord and Erin’s cupping Jillian’s face, tilting it so that she can press a proper kiss on Jillian’s lips. They stay like that for a moment, lips pressed against each other, Erin’s thumb stroking softly over Jillian’s cheek, totally still in this closet of darkness. Then the door opens, bathing them in light, and Erin and Jillian break apart as abruptly as they had come together.

**Author's Note:**

> PS. For anyone who might be interested in this sort of thing, there are two songs that I feel really go with this fic: feels like summer by Childish Gambino & second night of summer by BØRNS


End file.
